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Example research essay topic: United States Of America Governor Of New York - 3,524 words

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Let it be remembered that civil liberty consists, not in a right to every man to do just what he pleases, but it consists in an equal right to all citizens to have, enjoy, and do, in peace, security and without molestation, whatever the equal and constitutional laws of the country admit to be consistent with the public good. John Jay was born in New York City, NY on December 12 th, 1745. Mr. Jay attended private school in Manhattan while working as a farm boy. John Jay after graduating with honors from private school attended the Columbia University where he studied law and history and excelled in most of his classes. John Jay received his Bachelor honors prior to the US Revolutionary War.

During the war he got an honorary position at the NY continental congress and the New York provincial congress. His further position at the New York committee of correspondence led him further to the draft works on the US constitution from the representative side of New York. John Jay worked for his country as the chief justice until 1778 as well as assumed the position of the Continental Congress President till 1780. John created many of the procedures used by the Supreme Court. President Washington later sent John to Great Britain to help avoid another war. The agreement that resulted from his visit to the kingdom of the Great Britain, called the Jay Treaty, settled the dispute and promoted commercial prosperity.

At the time, the treaty was a national controversy, and John lost an opportunity to be considered for the Presidency. Despite being but a governor of New York, John Jay drastically influenced the politics and the judicial system of the United States of America. In the following paper I am going to comment on Jays biography, present various findings as well as express my personal opinion on the given matter. It should be noted that John Jays paternal grandfather, Augustus was the first person of his family to move to the USA.

He was not able to stay in rights when the catholics strived to exterminate the protestants on all the French territories and subsequently moved to New York where, with an advantageous marriage and a thriving mercantile business, he established a strong foundation for his descendants (Kinney, 2001). Johns father and Augustus son Peter, was also a merchant, who had eleven children with his fertile wife Mary Van Cortlandt, with only six of them surviving into adulthood. John was the fifth of these six survivors to the Jay family. Shortly after John's birth, his family moved from Manhattan to Rye in order to provide a more respectable environment for the raising of John's elder siblings, two of whom had been struck by blindness because of the small pox epidemic, while the others were affected with various mental disorders (Breen, 2000). In Columbia University that at Jays time was called Kings college, John underwent the conventional classical education, to become a law clerk in the office of Benjamin Kiss after his honorary graduation.

Jay was freely admitted to the bar in the late 1760 s when he had to work for the Livingston family just prior to his opening his own law business. Among other tasks during these years, Jay served as clerk of the New York-New Jersey Boundary Commission. In the early spring of 1775, John Jay had made his two most important things in life (Bond, 2002). First of all he got married with Sarah Livingston, the daughter of the Jewish governor William Livingston that immediately opened him the doors to important political and economic connections as associated with her father. After the marriage he decided to go into the US politics, for the sole reason of the deteriorating relations between the USA and Great Britain.

Throughout the revolutionary struggle, Jay followed a course of moderation, separating himself clearly from loyalists but resisting what he considered the extremism of more radical politicians (Kinney, 2001). Thus, in the months before Independence he favored exploring the possibilities of rapprochement fully, helping to draft the Olive Branch Petition as a delegate to the second Continental Congress. As a delegate to the New York Convention of 1776 - 77, Jay had a formative influence in shaping the new state's constitution (Bond, 2002)... I would like to note that John Jays graduation oration supported the heavenly blessings of peace. He sat in the Continental Congress and drafted an address to the people of Canada, asking them to join in refusing British rule. John Jay oftentimes was seen with the British girl, Jane Mattingly who he was considered to love since his college years.

It is no wonder why John Jay was pro-British influence over the United States colonies. John Jay was so much against the free nation that he did not even sign the Declaration of Independence that started the new war on the continent, yet when the war for independence took place, Jay was pro the USA. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War his voice was for smoothing over the difficulties with the mother country; but when he became convinced that "there is no peace, " he joined the American cause (Breen, 2001). By right Jay's signature should have appeared on the Declaration of Independence, but, when it was signed, he was detained at home to prepare a constitution for his native state. In the late 1770 s, John Jay went on the honorary mission the Spain to ask for the recognition of the US independence as well as for some long-term loans to support the revolutionary war. It should be noted that he did not manage to get any recognition or monetary support from Spain for the fact that it believed that once the British colonies fall apart so easily, the Spanish empire would not stand for long.

During the Revolutionary War, John sent cannons to George Washington's troops in New York. He also organized a council to search for spies and traitors that subsequently evolved into CIA and FBI (Kinney, 2001). Another interesting fact occurred in 1983 when John Jay together with Ben Franklin, and John Adams went to France to sign the Peace Treaty between the USA and Great Britain with Mr. Oswald that in fact meant that the new nation was independent as well as free from any British influence (Bond, 2002). The U. S.

delegates were sent to Paris with specific instructions: to insist only on the Independence of the United States from Great Britain, deferring in all other matters to the French. The French, however, where entangled in another matter with Spain against the British (Bond, 2002). They refused to consider the matter until Spain had won Gibraltar, a conflict that showed no sign of resolution. So the delegates engaged Oswald in private, being careful to pay their public respects to French officials. The treaty that resulted was a better settlement than the U. S.

Congress could ever have hoped for (Breen, 2001). Great Britain guaranteed to the USA its long-awaited independence from Great Britain that meant that the US territory east of Mississippi except for the Spanish Florida would remain the exclusive property of the USA. The Americans were repealed any taxes from the British Empire as well as go the chance to engage in fishing routes that used to belong to Great Britain at no additional cost. Upon John Jays return to the USA, he was unanimously appointed by the US Congress the Foreign Affairs Secretary of State. Only after becoming the Secretary of State John Jay had started to work on his literary contribution to the federalism of the United States of America. Another famous US leader James Madison considered it to be an honor to study from John Jay who at that time got pretty sick and ceased to exist as a prolific federalist writer.

After the war, John grew frustrated with the weakness of the new government established by the Articles of Confederation and wrote five essays with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to argue for a new government structure. Their writings, commonly known under the name US Federalist Papers, led to the state of New York joining the Union and ratifying the U. S. Constitution (Breen, 2000).

On September 24 th, 1789 the US founding father George Washington had signed the Judiciary Act that in fact allowed the creation of the US federal court system with John Jay being nominated for the role of the chief Supreme Court Justice. John Jay who at that time did not have any intimate relations with Mattingly was considered to be rather broken and that was thought to have contributed to his drastic impartiality in the first several years of the federal courts. It should be noted that it took the USA three years to establish all proper rules, protocols, and formalities, with the court freely choosing the lawyers based on their reputation and experience. Here I would like to point out an interesting fact from John Jays working experience when he showed himself as a great impartial man of great strength and will power. Mr.

Hamilton contacted the Court for the urgent request to support other federal agencies that would denounce the opposition to the bill that assumed state debts in the USA. John Jay remain calm and impartial and replied that the supreme court can only decide on the constitutional basis of the given bill or law if represented as cases in regular legal order (Bond, 2002). What Hamilton was asking for was not the business of the US court, thus did not consider John Jay (Kinney, 2001). It did not take long for the daunting task of establishing the federal courts and their jurisdiction to seek out the Supreme court (Breen, 2000). Three cases appeared during the justice period of John Jay.

The first: Chisholm v. Georgia, involved the right of a private citizen in one state to sue another state. It started when two men from South Carolina sought to recover property that had been impounded by the state of Georgia after the Revolutionary war. Thus, the eventual finding of the court inflamed the worst anti-federalist sentiments.

It appeared that a citizen anywhere in the union (and perhaps outside the union as well) could hold over the "rights" of a state in the federal court. Jay's argument was a very eloquent and sound declaration of the principles of the new republic (Bond, 2002). He pointed out that a citizen would be allowed to sue a corporation (a group of persons) of any size and that since each state, deriving its powers from the collective consent of its citizens, was in effect just such an instrument, an individual would be allowed to sue. It should be noted that Jay argued that a "sovereign right, " the sort that applied to a prince over his subjects, did not apply in the United States. I would personally like you to note that this precedent established by John Jay was shortly overruled by the eleventh amendment to the US Constitution (Kinney, 2001). Now please refer to the second case, named Georgia vs.

Brailsford, that made John Jay famous as well as presented an interesting reversal of the first case, where the state of Georgia wished to impose itself on a suit brought in circuit court by a British creditor against a citizen of Georgia (Breen, 2000). What is interesting is that in ongoing conflict with Britain to recover reparations from the war, the state had sequestered a debt held by a citizen. The state wanted to use the case to establish its title to the property (money to be impounded because of infidelity to the revolutionary cause) (Black, 2001). It should be noted that the US court reached a compromise rather than rule against Georgia again in such a short time. The effect was to establish that the outcome of this conflict was dependent on the enforcement of treaties between the federal government and Britain.

It is apparent that in this matter, the US government had no jurisdiction (Bond, 2002). The last and in my opinion the most interesting case that involved impartiality and professionalism of John Jay spoke about the jurisdiction of foreign powers on U. S. soil.

Glass vs. Sloop Betsy concerned the interests of American and Swedish owners of a ship, Betsy, against the government of France (Kinney, 2001). French privateers had impounded the ship and presented it to the French council in Baltimore as a prize for the French government. The owners sought the protection of the federal court. This was a very tricky case involving international politics and the doctrine of neutrality on the high seas.

It would have been reasonable for the court to refuse the case, but the justices, and especially Jay, felt that it would be a bad case from which to back down. It is for this reason the US court hit upon an innovation that would have important consequences for the standing of the United States in the world. What is innovative was the fact that the Justices ruled that a council representing a foreign government had no jurisdiction in the United States "without positive stipulation of a treaty... " (Bond, 2002). George Washington had chosen very wisely in selecting the first chief justice (Breen, 2000). Jay had always been widely appreciated as a just and reasonable man. His stewardship of the court only enhanced his standing and, not incidentally, did much to found the Supreme court as a rational and praiseworthy foundation.

His duties were solid, traveling to hear cases throughout the first circuit. But his proclamations (charges to the various grand juries) were sound, inspiring, and were stated in language that the people in the various jurisdictions greeted with enthusiasm. Jay was soon called to serve his nation in another capacity, and then called in short order to serve his state of New York as Governor. John Jay retired from the Supreme court in 1795 when he wanted some peace in life and free time to spend in writing reading and composing the works needed by his country (Black, 2001). The notorious John Jay's Treaty between the USA and Great Britain was a very contentious political issue of 1799 in the world.

even though the Treaty of Paris, signed with Britain in September of 1783, the British were causing problems in and around the territory of the United States. Britain had not attended to all of the war reparations (such as compensation for large-scale theft of slaves) agreed to in the treaty. The Brits continued to occupy western military posts and to pursue fur trading in the Great Lakes region as if it were their own. Further, The British interfered with shipping traffic in the Caribbean, searching American ships for contraband and impressing American seamen into service to the crown.

Washington sent Jay to London in 1794 to try to negotiate a solution to these problems. The agreement that Jay returned with did not satisfy anyone in the USA. At the same time Mr. Hamilton the arch-rival of Jay was cheerful. Since the time when Jay refused to refute the bill that Hamilton proposed, Mr.

Hamilton had always wanted to take revenge. Hamilton knew that Jay indeed was deprived of encounters with the weaker sex and told the British crown what description of a girl Jay desired. It is no wonder why the modern day Americans do not like to discuss the reason behind Jays concessions to virtually any British demands: during his all time in Britain, a young courteous and very agreeable female was attached to him twenty-four hours a day who was almost the exact copy of Mattingly, a girl Jay loved before her untimely death. This was no surprise to Hamilton, who had secretly informed the British before hand that the Americans would be willing to compromise on most issues. The British had only agreed to two items: a removal from the western posts (and even then at their own very conditional convenience), and to allow small American ships to trade in the West Indies. Jay could not do anything to prevent the British Royal Navy from continuing to decide American sovereignty with regard to shipping on a case-by-case basis.

Criticism of the Federalist administration was already raging and most people saw this treaty as a terrible compromise to American interests. Jay was burned in effigy in numerous rural areas. Another interesting thing is that Mr. Hamilton who initially was extremely happy to find out that Jay had failed the task, was stoned in New York City when he defended the treaty at a mass meeting. Though the treaty was ratified by a narrow margin in the Senate, the House later tried to block it by refusing to spend any additional money on it with the hopes that without cash it would not exist for long.

Washington, through careful political maneuvering, managed to suppress the action and give the Jays treaty all proper legitimate powers (Bond, 2002). In his late life Jay still loved to remain in New York, a place that accepted immigrants from around the world in his hopes to see a beautiful female he met in his youth-hood as well as on his trip to London. In the late 1790 s he was voted a governor of New York, regardless of the desire to serve. At the time of the national poll he was in Europe.

What is worth noting is the fact that another US leader, Alexander Hamilton was in charge of Federalist party politics in New York and he was determined that Jay should be elected Governor on the Federalist ticket. It should be noted that John Jay was in London at the time negotiating with the British. When he returned on May 28 th, 1795, the polling process was well under way. On June fifth the official result was that he had been elected by a majority of 1, 589 votes (Black, 2001). John Jay was forced to retire from the Supreme court, though he would not have chosen to do so, because his friends in New York had called him to service. Though the fury of public reaction to John Jay's treaty marred his first term, he was reelected and proved to be a most popular and productive governor (Kinney, 2001).

In conclusion I would also like to note that the Jays political season in New York was marred by severe partisanship and corruption in appointments, elections, and policies. Jay, much to the chagrin of the Federalist Party that saw to his election, eliminated these practices wherever he could. He insisted that the only criterion for office was a man's ability to do the job. He overruled party bosses regularly and retained appointees from the preceding administration where it was reasonable to do so. Jay presided over many measures to improve the business and the quality of life in the state. He undertook a project to improve the navigation of canals in New York.

He petitioned the Legislature to increase judicial salaries (unsuccessfully) and, finding the states attorney-general to be severely over worked, recommended that the state be divided into eight regions and that seven assistants be appointed. He reformed the prison system: limited the death penalty, abolished flogging, built new sanitary prisons and generally improved the treatment of prisoners. He supported a bill that would abolish imprisonment for debt. He also advanced a bill that would gradually abolish slavery. This did pass into law during his second term. Jay was a fanatically popular governor, despite the treaty with Britain and in spite of the Federalist Party's political maneuvers that he alternately thwarted and neglected.

The people who got him elected could never account for his behavior except that they understood the honor and principle that guided his every decision. Towards his last years of life Jay wanted to live in peace and quiet in his family estate. Nevertheless, he was still in high demand by the USA. President John Adams asked him to return as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to fill a vacancy left by retiring Chief Justice Ellsworth. Jay's reply to the president indicated that he was too tired and in too poor health to attend the duties of the office. While in the office he had frequently complained about the rigors of attending the circuit court.

Within six weeks of his note to the President, the Congress passed a measure that relieved the Supreme court of all circuit court duties. Jay retired just the same. John Jay survived his wife and several of his children. The last years of his life were not comfortable. Though he had a splendid home and the support of his children, his health was very-very poor.

Jay strived to entertain himself and his relatives by reading and writing yet his disease was taking away all his strength. John Jay died on May 18 th, 1830 in his own estate, telling his children to give the money that they would otherwise spend on his funeral to the poor widow next door. Children did what this great American leader asked them to.


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Research essay sample on United States Of America Governor Of New York

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